Eleison
by Hymntanra
Summary: Luminous' introduction into the Heroes is awkward for Freud, for he knows. He recognizes. And he's not sure how to feel about the energy that runs through this new addition, this energy that once ran through their enemy. Implied White MagexFreud, implied LuminousxFreud.


Eleison

_O quam Sancta_

_Quam Serena_

_Quam Benigna_

_Quam Amoena_

The bright, gentle light reflecting the interior of the temple of Serenity cast a deceptive calm within the young scholar as he quietly padded into the well-lit crystal halls. Each of Freud's sides were flanked by a monk dressed in plain white robes; their sleeves folded humbly into each other as they guided their powerful guest down their hidden halls. The brunette scholar himself looked around in thinly veiled interest—not many people were allowed to walk amongst these hallowed halls nowadays. Visitors had been banned as of a few years ago but he…he had been summoned here by one of the high priests today.

For a temple in an era of war, it was in immaculate condition.

Massive crystals hung from the ceiling and reflected the people below, casting an ethereal glow across all of them. A large, disjointed golden circlet spun gently around the spikes of enchanting décor. Engraved within the circlet were old runes from ancient times—they were faint in their carving but glowed brightly with some powerful light magic that Freud speculated was born from the crystals themselves. After all, the bright gems seemed to glow with a similar light. Below the display was a small marble staircase covered in a red and gold carpet, and lit up with bright blue fires. Monks gathered around this pedestal and various bookcases littered the walls around them.

The monks stopped their guest in front of this display.

All the white clad monks milling around the display turned to look at the intruder with curious, and almost suspicious, eyes. Freud had to admit that his bright red robe was definitely a beacon amongst their clean pressed silk white outfits. Had he time, the scholar would had arranged to wear the customary outfit of the Order of Serenity…but he hadn't had any preparation time at all. The high priest of the organization had simply contacted him out of nowhere one day and demanded Freud's presence, informing the man that he would be sending some of the Serenity monks to retrieve him.

Freud had been surprised, to say the least, but had hastily dropped everything and left Aran in charge of the duties fighting the Black Mage. It had been a shock to the other warriors he working with. The scholar was not one to abandon them on such short notice and he regretted not being able to explain the situation to them immediately…he figured it would have to wait to explain that the Order of Serenity rarely, if ever, opened its doors to strangers. Freud himself had only ever met one other individual who had been inside.

The thought made his lips purse a bit so he cast it aside.

Placing a smile on his face, Freud ascended up the stairs to meet with the brown haired high priest of the Order of Serenity. He could see streaks of white already running through the chocolate hair. "You must be Vieren, yes? I am Freud…and I must say, the Order of Serenity is just as beautiful as I was told it would be. The crystals are truly enchanting. But I'm simply left wondering why—"

"You were summoned here." The monk interrupted solemnly. Freud blinked in surprise at being interrupted; it wasn't something that had been done to him in some time now, but he supposed he wasn't in a position of utmost power at the moment either. "Yes. Anyone would be. I suppose anyone would be surprised when they discovered they would need to be blindfolded to be escorted here as well."

"I did find that a little discontenting, admittedly." Freud chuckled weakly. It had been wholly uncomfortably when one of the monks had tied a black sash around his blue eyes and forcefully led the young scholar around in all sorts of circles to reach the abode of Serenity. "But I do understand your reasoning. You don't want this place found. You don't want Serenity to become as destroyed as the rest of the world. Trust me when I say that I, and all of my associates, understand your pain and your reasoning."

"Yes…but we also understand that we cannot hide Serenity forever. We tried. For a very long time." Vieren's voice sounded solemn, almost broken and cold. Freud tried to read the man's expression but came up blank; the priest was doing his damnest to guard his face against this guest who he clearly did not trust. "This is….our second Serenity. It was destroyed, previously, by he whom you and your allies fight."

"I did not hear of this."

"We kept it quiet and moved on. But we lost much that day." Vieren replied. "One of our own, a caretaker named Lucia, sacrificed her life that day for one of our younger members at the time. But we have come upon a dilemma. You see, we came upon discussion recently in that we fear the Black Mage and his forces will once again pursue Serenity in search of this young one again. We lost Lucia the first time around…we don't want to lose more, and we certainly do not want to endanger Serenity."

Freud saw where this was going. "Mr. Vieren, I mean you no offense, but I am not a glorified babysitter. None of us are."

"Nor do we expect you to be. Like many scholars I'm sure you're aware of Serenity's acclaim for its….fighting magic." Vieren replied slowly. Freud nodded. Of course he was. The Order was renowned for their mastery of the magic of light magic as an offensive and healing art. "We simply want to give you our Order member in exchange for your group taking advantage of his skills…they can't be hidden forever, and his purpose can't be stowed away forever either. No matter how much we want to hide his purpose…we cannot."

"…His purpose?" Freud asked. "Priest, I do not mean to bother, but what is the Black Mage's intrigue with this child?"

"….I think you would be able to judge that best yourself." Vieren replied morosely, clapping his hands together once. "Luminous. Would you please come up here?"

A man—perhaps a head or so taller than Freud himself and wearing a hooded white poncho over his priest garb—shuffled up the stairs to stand beside Vieren. The young scholar raised a brow curiously; he wasn't quite sure what Vieren was getting at by just bringing the hunted individual up here. Unless he wanted to prove that the other Order member was not a child and was quite good at making Vieren look like a dwarf.

Then the man took his hood away from his face.

Freud was quite sure his face went through about fifteen different expression within that moment, unable to settle on exactly what to think about what had been put in front of him as his hands went limp. The clipboard that had been secure in his fingers now fell from his fingers and slammed into the marble staircase. Deep within his head, Freud proceeded that as being ridiculous because his hands hadn't been feeling the slightest bit weak and clammy before but _what about what had been put in front of him wasn't ridiculous, what was Vieren possibly thinking about this and…_

The brunette shook himself back into common thought again.

"I'd like to speak with you privately, Vieren." Freud said, refusing to look at the white haired man standing next to high priest. Bright blue eyes bored with an almost curious intensity into the scholar's skull, as if threatening him. Freud certainly felt threatened by the man and his appearance—he certainly felt more than tricked by the monks of Serenity at this very moment. Deceived by supposedly whole-hearted monks…

"Anything you can say to me, you can say to the boy." Vieren replied pointedly. Freud narrowed his own sky-blue eyes. The high priest knew very well that he could _not_ say what he wanted to say in front of this…_oddity._ Whatever he might be. "As he will be going with you when you leave."

"And what makes you think that?" Freud challenged.

"It's a whole room against one, and you are left without your usual weapon of choice." Luminous finally spoke up, his voice deep and rich. "I don't mean to trouble you, scholar, but you are the one at a disadvantage here. All I wish is to join your battle against this heinous force destroying our world. All I want to do is preserve the health of our world, preserve the memory of Lucia, and ensure that the Order of Serenity will continue to live on in most certain safety. I don't think that is too much to ask and you and your rabble most certainly are in need of more allies."

Freud stared at the man as he spoke, digesting his words and coming to a slow realization.

_He does not know._

_…Is…is he a threat…if he does not know…?_

Slowly, with a shaking hand, the scholar bent down and picked up the clipboard he had dropped. Not many people knew of the Black Mage before he was the Black Mage. Not many people had seen his visage before he had become the monster that haunted their nightmare—very few had seen him when he was a wise monk and a clever scholar, albeit still a very shifty man. As well as the only monk of Serenity that Freud had ever had both the pleasure and displeasure of meeting.

He didn't like looking at this man, this man that was literally a mirror of the Black Mage before he had become a monster. But as Freud glanced around and considered his options, he realized he didn't have much of a choice…it was clear that this 'Luminous' had nothing but pure intentions. Though Freud was not sure how such a _creature_ as this could have been born he wasn't sure if he could necessarily reject this kind of trump card. Having the power of the White Mage in a battle against the Black Mage…

The scholar stared, eyes weary, at the tall and solemn white haired light mage. Briefly he registered the blue tipped ends of the hair, which he did not recall the White Mage having…perhaps a gift of new birth? He did not know. Perhaps a 'gift of the mother'….whoever that was. He hadn't remember the shifty yet intelligent monk being particularly interested in reproduction or women...but Freud's thoughts were drawn away from how this could have even happened by all the eyes on him. So, with a sigh, he nodded.

"Very well. You are welcome among us, Luminous."

Though he welcomed Luminous in, that did not mean that Freud did not intend to leave the matter of how the man had come to be alone.

After some amount of pestering and personal research, he managed to glean enough information out of his books and out of Vieren to discover that somehow the White Mage had discarded his light magic and become the Black Mage. When doing so, the discarded light magic had literally taken on a life of its own and become a new living being all its own—it had formed _life_, and become the baby Luminous that the Order of Serenity had vainly adopted in and even named. Like it was some sort of puppy dog instead of nature itself they were tampering with.

Freud had never heard of it happening before, but apparently the Black Mage had been aware of it and had tried to destroy it…and was under the impression that the cast of light WAS destroyed. Thus the attack on the previous Order of Serenity and the deceased wetnurse of the young Luminous, this 'Lucia' he occasionally spoke of like a motherly figure. She had died for the sake of the child version of the offcast of the Black Mage…

The scholar sighed and slammed the tome shut.

He remembered.

Before the Heroes, before the conflicts, before everything…back when he had just been a teenager working to prove himself to the scholars at the Order of Orbis, they had received a visitor from the Order of Serenity. It was unheard of but mightily celebrated. The _White Mage_, he called himself, with his solemn expression and peaks of untold brilliance. He bestowed upon them scores of knowledge from Serenity and like all the teenagers at Orbis, Freud had hung onto their visitor's every word with wide and excited eyes.

But unlike the other teens, even when the White Mage was just _the White Mage_, the man had made Freud uncomfortable. He had taken a certain interest in the brunette because of the discomfort that the teen expressed—in his youth, the boy was unafraid to unabashedly express that he was fearful of the imposing white haired man from the far away church. To Freud, he gave knowledge and opinions that he did not share with the Order of Orbis…much of which the brunette did not agree with.

But he did feel awed by the visitor, just like all the rest of the rambunctious teens, and blessed by the fact that he was receiving special attention. Freud felt himself almost fading out of reality, falling into his own memories as he stared blankly into space.

_"Do you understand, young Freud?"_ _Soft fingers would be running through his hair as the brunette scholar flipped through one of the books handed to him by the imposing visitor. The White Mage chuckled, lightly but with a tone full of dark intimidation, as the teen looked up to him with confused large blue eyes. "You know, it's very funny to me. How curious you are. You're only sixteen years old, a mere four years younger than myself and yet so young and naïve. I wonder if you can even learn such complex things as the ones I attempt to showcase to you."_

_ "I believe I can." _

_ "I believe we all believe that." The White Mage's smile faded from his face. "We all believe in many things in our lifetime. Once I believed in light magic, young Freud. Now I wonder if it is truly the power I should stand behind." _

_ "What would you rather stand behind?" _

_ The White Mage's eyes lidded slightly, rubbing the teen between his shoulder blades as if to relax him. He received a nervous but thankful smile in return. "The magic of darkness, I feel, is sometimes the strongest power to stand behind." _

_ "But it is a corrupted magic." _

_ "So it is, young Freud. So it is. But corruption is based on the individual. I have studied light magic all of my life. I am of pure mind and body." The White Mage seemed to be focusing off into space now, as if he did not even see the individual whose shoulders he was lightly massaging. "With a pure mind and a pure body, perhaps, I could overcome this so called corruption. After all, many things have been proven incorrect before…perhaps I will just serve to prove that this power will be a benefit in making our world a true utopia. A euphoria of the highest degree ruled by a king of benevolent darkness." _

_ "I have never heard of such a thing as benevolent darkness."_ _Freud replied uneasily. The White Mage twitched slightly, then shook his head with a tight lipped smile as he drew the student into a one armed hug. _

_ "We are scholars, young Freud. We seek to create new things every day. If it has not been heard of, perhaps I will just create it." The White Mage spoke as if he was addressing himself more than the boy, but traced thin fingers across the teen's bangs anyhow. The young scholar did not reply this time; he just relaxed into the soft touched upon his forehead. It was the soothing pulse of warm healing light magic. This was what Freud liked to feel from his temporary mentor—the 'true self' that radiated from his magic. It was a lovely sort of beauty that encompassed the older man and entranced the student._

_ He wondered if it would go away if the White Magic found his 'benevolent darkness'._

Looking back Freud did occasionally wonder if the White Mage's behavior towards his young charge of the time could have been considered inappropriate. Perhaps almost a bit too touchy-feely (something that was never really encouraged among the mages of Order of Orbis—as a teen, he had just figured it was a tradition of Serenity but later discovered it was not). But when it all came down to it, the reality was that the White Mage had NOT found his benevolent darkness…but he had attempted to pursue his goal of being a king despite the darkness being a cruel darkness anyhow.

"You lost control anyways, didn't you, visitor of Serenity." He mumbled. Then the scholar wrinkled his brow and shook his head. This had been occupying his thoughts for far too long now due to the new addition to the Heroes…and Luminous had been with them for a good six months now. Hell, they had added people beyond him. The master thief, Phantom, had joined up with them shortly after Luminous was inducted due to the death of the Empress Aria. But Freud was letting Luminous bother him far more, and not even because of Luminous himself.

"Because of that man…" Freud mumbled.

It wasn't like Luminous was a hassle. He was helpful. He did as told. Certainly, he was very arrogant and occasionally fought with Phantom but he was not a troublemaker but something about the fact that he was a living incarnation of the White Mage's light magic was bothersome to Freud. He wasn't sure why. Perhaps, he figured, he was fearful that they could end up with a second Black Mage if Luminous decided to be an idiot like the White Mage had.

But Freud knew that was ridiculous.

Unlike his predecessor, Luminous saw things in a very black and white way. Light magic was good and dark magic was evil. The Black Mage was a horrible force of evil to be destroyed and that was all there was to it. That was it. He didn't particularly think anything more complex outside of such ideals, and never pressured himself to do anything more than the simple light versus dark debate either. Hell, the simple reason he hated Phantom from the get-go was because he categorized him directly under the 'dark side' and didn't seem him as suiting to work alongside a group calling themselves Heroes. THAT was a battle Freud had to quell often.

Without touching Luminous, of course.

He had managed to avoid it, for a long time, the whole 'touching Luminous' matter. Freud knew from his experience with the White Mage that the light magic from him was an emitting force of pulsing soothing goodness, a unique power all his own. It was a light that was distinctly the _White Mage's_. And Freud found himself _not wanting to feel it. _Even in training he found himself avoiding the other mage's touch, which was luckily easy as he used an array of elemental magic.

Unfortunately he wasn't always lucky.

He was stacking books one day, teetering precariously on the edge of a footstool in order to place tomes on a higher shelf. It wasn't the safest thing that Freud had done but he was well aware that he'd survive if he fell over. It wasn't like healing magic was unknown to him or any of the other people in the building he currently occupied. But a book toppled from the top of the stack in his arms; he grunted in annoyance and then his eyes widened in shock as the rest followed them. In shock, the scholar's arms flailed out the catch the books and found himself losing his balance.

His lower arm was gripped, tightly and firmly, and pulled up before he could hit the ground.

"You're being foolish."

Freud didn't pay attention to the words of the light mage who was now holding him up by the wrist (demeaning so—Luminous was a good head taller than the other mage so his red boots couldn't even reach the hardwood floor). He simply stared, his sky blue eyes wide in shock as the light energy coursed through Luminous' fingers and across the delicate and unmarred skin of Freud. The light mage wasn't aware of it—his energy was too much to full detect, but a mage of Freud's caliber could. He could _feel_ it.

_It was the exact same energy as the White Mage._

With a snapping motion, he smacked the other mage's hand away from him.

"D-don…." He stuttered. Luminous stared incredulously at him, unaware to make of what seemed like a severe overreaction to him. "Don't. Don't touch me."

"What."

"Please. Don't touch me." Freud was not used to sounding this weak in front of his allies. He didn't think he had ever used this tone in front of _anyone_ before, much less the people he considered his equals. But the power that he had felt coursing through Luminous' fingertips…oh yes, that was the White Mage. Every little iota of power was the exact same jolting kind of energy that the strange visitor from the Order of Serenity had sent through his students in Orbis before. And it…

…was also the energy of someone who meant them ill. The exact same, just in a far less corrupted form.

He ran.

It was the first, and last, time that Freud ran. He never spoke of it, and Luminous never spoke of it either. He adhered to the other mage's wishes as well as he could, thankfully, keeping his grip away from the skin of the brunette scholar. Freud felt slightly bad for saying what pretty much had turned the other man off to any form of friendship with him, but at the same time he figured it may have almost been for the best. He wasn't sure if he could handle it. Which elated a snorting guffaw from him on his very deathbed of Afrien, where the Black Mage—the _White Mage_—finally lay him to rest.

"Since when…was I not able to handle…something so simple…" He breathed.

_Since now._ Was all his mind echoed back. _Since now._


End file.
